WASHINGTON – A bipartisan blue-ribbon panel is expected to recommend the U.S. convene a Middle East summit that would include Iran and Syria as part of a plan to involve regional powers in Iraq’s future – and allow Washington to slowly begin withdrawing troops, The Post has learned.

A new diplomatic initiative that would include direct U.S. talks with Iran and Syria is emerging as a centerpiece of the highly anticipated report by the Iraq Study Group – the panel of political luminaries headed by former Secretary of State and Bush family fixer James Baker, according to officials familiar with the panel’s work.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to endorse plans to talk with Iran and Syria when he addresses the panel in a video conference today.

Officials cautioned that the group’s report and its recommendations have not been completed and members have yet to reach final consensus on several critical issues.

And Baker, who could be appointed to lead the new Iraqi initiative, is downplaying expectations that there is a “magic bullet” that will instantly solve Iraq’s problems.

But yesterday, Bush, stung by the Democratic takeover of Congress, met with Baker and other members of the Iraq Study Group at the White House and signaled a willingness to engage in a new approach on Iraq and possibly use the panel’s recommendations as a vehicle for the policy change.

“I was impressed by the questions they asked. They want us to succeed in Iraq, just like I want us to succeed. So we had a really good discussion,” Bush said.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Bush remained cool to bringing Syria and Iran into talks over Iraq’s future, saying that Syria needed to get out of Lebanon and Iran needed to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

The Baker panel is also expected to link regional involvement in Iraq’s future to plans for “redeployment” and possibly withdrawal of some U.S. forces from Iraq within a year. The panel likely will stop short of endorsing demands from some Democrats for a specific timetable for withdrawing troops, sources said.

The Iraq Study Group is also likely to endorse recent moves by U.S. diplomats in Baghdad to increase training of Iraqi security forces and to pressure the Iraqi government to do more to broker a peace deal between Iraqi Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, while stepping up efforts to disband the militias responsible for sectarian violence.

The panel may also endorse tying the continued presence of U.S. troops in support of the Iraqi government to decisive action on the part of Iraqi government officials – although officials said this is a subject of ongoing debate inside the Study Group, sources said

President Bush was initially opposed to any direct talks with Iran and Syria, believing they were helping fuel the violence inside Iraq by supporting pro-Saddam insurgents.

Members of the panel also met with other members of Bush’s national security team, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and CIA Director Michael Hayden. White House spokesman Tony Snow described the sessions as a series of “conversations” about the situation in Iraq.

The panel, which was convened by congressional mandate last March, has interviewed scores of experts and even has visited Iraq. The group is expected to meet the week after Thanksgiving to discuss the final recommendations. It is due to issue its report sometime later in December.

Meanwhile, the hunt for al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan landed a blow against the terror group with the arrest of what provincial police officials say is a senior al Qaeda leader.

Officials would not confirm reports that one of the four al Qaeda operatives arrested by U.S. and Afghan troops last week is a top lieutenant to Osama bin Laden, who was among several terrorists who escaped from the U.S. prison in Bagram last year.

With Post Wire Services

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Potential proposals

Elements under consideration by the Iraq Study Group:

* A regional summit to involve neighboring states in securing Iraq’s future.

* Recommending direct talks with Iran and Syria.

* Withdrawal or redeployment of coalition troops within a short time-frame.

* Pressure on the Iraqi government to reign in sectarian militias.

* Stepped-up initiatives by the Iraqi government to broker peace deals between Sunnis and Shiites.

* The threat of accelerated troop withdrawals if the Iraqi government doesn’t reach its goals for taking control of the nation.